


Witness and Suffer

by Crimson_Alchemistress



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Eventual Smut, Evil Snoke, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Hux is Not Nice, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Multi, Mutual Finnreylo, Polyamory, Rating May Change, Threesome - F/M/M, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 12:24:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11736990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crimson_Alchemistress/pseuds/Crimson_Alchemistress
Summary: When the plan to destroy Starkiller Base fails, the Resistance perishes in the destruction of the Ileenium System. With the only force against the First Order obliterated, no one stands in their way. Yet with domination over the galaxy within reach, Kylo Ren finds himself doubting his place under Snoke. Just as Finn had finally found a cause he can fight for, it's ripped away from him. With no family coming back for her and no clue as to what the First Order wants wit her, Rey's enduring hope begins to fade.All three of them are trapped within the First Order. All three of them want to escape. The best chance they have is working together to escape and defeat the First Order. But in light of Kylo Ren's atrocities, Rey and Finn find it nearly impossible to trust him. With no other options, the renegade duo just might have to consider siding with the monster they both detest.





	Witness and Suffer

**Author's Note:**

> I probably shouldn't be starting another multichapter fic when I already have two that aren't finished but whoops here's this idea I couldn't get out of my head ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Deep in the unknown regions of the galaxy, a battle waged that could determine the fate of the galaxy. The Resistance fleet raced around Starkiller, firing at the all too vital oscillator, but to no avail.

“Black Two! Black Five! Keep hitting that oscillator, we’ll cover you!” Commander Poe Dameron ordered from his X-wing.

“Got it, Black Leader!” Jess Pava, designated Black Two responded. She and Yolo Ziff, Black Five, continued shooting at the oscillator, avoiding the First Order TIE Fighters and leaving them for the rest of Black and Red Squadrons to battle.

“Black Five, are you there? Black Five!” Jess called into her com.

No answer.

“Black Five! Answer me!” Poe called out.

Still no response.

_ Shit, _ he thought. This wasn’t good. “Black Two, keep firing! We’ve got you!”

In her own X-wing, Jess kept swerving to avoid shots from TIEs as she tried to get a clear shot at the oscillator. A near collision left her shaken for only a moment before she fired again at Starkiller Base. She hit her mark, but doubted she did anything to stop the seemingly more inevitable strike.

“Black Leader, we need more firepower! I can’t take this thing out by myself!”

“Hang in there Black Two, we’re comi-”

The call cut off.

“Black Leader! Are you there?” Jess called.

Nothing.

“Black Leader! Poe! Do you read me-”

A shot at Jess’s X-wing sent her careening into a TIE. With the Resistance fleet nearly destroyed, there was no hope for stopping the blast headed for the Ilenium System.

* * *

 

In the forest of Starkiller Base, Kylo Ren and Finn were locked in combat, their lightsaber blades crossed, neither man willing to allow the other even the slightest give. Ren twirled his blade around Finn’s expecting to force the saber out of his hands, when Finn quickly retracted the blade long enough to reposition it away from Kylo Ren’s and ignited it in time to stop another swing from Ren.

The two men continued fighting, lightsabers clashing, never paying any mind to the woman on the ground slowly regaining consciousness. She was greeted with the sight of red and blue swirling, colliding, bouncing off each other.

She pushed herself into a sitting position as her vision became clearer. Her heart leapt out of her chest when Kylo Ren landed a hit on Finn, but he quickly recovered and deflected Ren’s next blow. She scrambled to her feet and started running toward the dueling men when she froze in place, realizing she had no way to interfere in this fight. She wasn’t equipped to go against a lightsaber. She took another step forward and felt herself kick something. Looking down, she spotted the blaster she’d pulled on Ren. Not seeing any other option, she picked up the blaster and slowly approached Ren and Finn, blaster ready to fire.

Ren had Finn backed against a tree, pushing his lightsaber against Finn’s until he had the crossguard blade on Finn’s should. Finn yelled in agony, trying to push Ren back through the pain. Despite Finn’s efforts, Ren managed to maintain his position and drove the blade further into Finn’s flesh, causing him to cry out even louder.

Rey felt her heart clench at the sight and ran up behind Ren, thrusting the barrel of the blaster between Ren’s shoulder blades.

Startled, Ren spun around, elbowing Rey in the chest and pushing her onto her backside. He seemed taken aback when he realized it was her that he’d just struck. He didn’t dwell on that for too long, turning away from her to block Finn’s next strike.

Finn cursed to himself, not able to strike quickly enough to end the fight. He kept his saber against Ren’s hoping to buy Rey some time to set up her shot. He looked past Ren at Rey, pleading her to fire at Ren and put an end to him. Killing Kylo Ren wouldn’t stop the First Order, Finn knew that, but it was their best chance at survival. Assuming the Resistance could destroy the oscillator and bring down Starkiller Base, Finn knew that wouldn’t be enough to save him or Rey. They needed to dispose of Ren.

Bringing his stare back to Ren, he was almost floored by the expression on Ren’s face. The anger and loathing that he’d looked at Finn with before had slowly been replaced by an expression of pain and desperation. Finn lost his grip for only a moment, but that was enough for Ren to gain the upper hand and bring his saber down across Finn’s hand. Finn cried out in pain and cradled his hand to his chest, planting his feet against the tree behind him to lend himself some leverage to hold Ren off with only one hand on his saber.

Rey scrambled to retrieve the blaster she’d dropped and quickly rose to her feet, this time standing back from the fray. She could shoot Ren right now and kill him. It’d be so easy, and she and Finn could have more time to find a way off this planet. But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bring herself to fire at Ren.

Deciding to risk butting the stock of the blaster against Ren’s head, Rey moved forward when she felt the ground shake. She looked over at Finn and Ren, who both had also frozen in place. Ren turned around, his expression fearful. He deactivated his lightsaber and ran past Rey, his course aimless. Rey couldn’t make sense of what he was doing or where he was going.

Rey turned back to Finn, who looked like he was about to collapse, and ran toward him. She wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him settled against the base of the tree. She looked at him, her head buzzing with questions. Almost guessing at what Rey was wondering, Finn shook his head. Rey felt a weight settle in her chest. She looked out at the dark sky in fear, holding tighter onto Finn as the ground shook again and the red beam began to light up the sky.

* * *

 

Leia watched on in horror as the last remaining Resistance feed on Starkiller Base showed the superweapon’s beam firing. She turned away from the hologram and stepped out of the meeting room.

“General Organa!” Admiral Akbar called for her, but she ignored him.

“General,” Officer Tabala Zo caught up to her. She turned to look at him, not bothering to hide the tears that had formed in her eyes. “Do you want to evacuate?”

Leia shook her head. “You saw how fast the Hosnian System was hit the first time Starkiller Base fired. We won’t be able to escape.”

“General-” he began to protest but was cut short.

“There’s no chance, Officer. Even if we make it off planet we won’t be able to get away in time to avoid the blast. Either we’re killed here or we’re killed in space. Say your prayers, com your loved ones one last time, there’s no hope for us now.”

“General Organa,” it was Admiral Statura who spoke, approaching her. “Are there any Resistance forces you want me to contact? Get a message out?”

Leia considered this for just a moment. “Put your com on me.”

Statura nodded and aimed his com at her, overriding the Queen of the Core Network to open a stream of General Organa’s message.

General Organa cleared her throat and began her last message to the galaxy. “This is going to be very brief. I am General Leia Organa, former general in the Rebellion, former Senator in the New Republic, and soon to be former leader of the Resistance. The First Order has targeted us with the same weapon they used to destroy the Hosnian System. There is no chance of us escaping, so I’m taking my final moments to tell you this: Do not give up the fight against the First Order. There are brave, resolute people all across the galaxy. You can’t give up hope to defeat the First Order. They are yet another Empire, regardless of how they like to pretend they aren’t. You can’t allow another Empire to rule over you. Any Resistance officers out there, regroup. Stand strong, be brave, resist the tyranny of the First Order.” A single tear fell from Leia’s eye. “I can’t erase the trauma my own biological father inflicted on this galaxy, and I can no longer fight to prevent even more damage. But you can. You must. This galaxy is vast and wonderful, and it’s well worth protecting against the evils of the First Order. Move forward and fight.” She took a deep breath. “And may the Force be with you.”

* * *

 

She stormed away from the Resistance officers, needing her last moments to herself.

Focusing on the Force surrounding her, she sent out a message to her brother.  _ Luke, you’re the only hope this galaxy has left. Please, do what’s right for this galaxy. Do what’s right for  _ him _. I love you, Luke. _

She took in a deep breath and let her tears fall. She reached out to the Force again, willing her thoughts to reach her son.  _ Ben, I still love you. I’ve been wishing you’d come back, but now there’s nothing left to come home to. I can only hope that you find your way back to the Light. I love you, Ben, and I forgive you. Please, find it in your heart to forgive me. _

She was vaguely aware of the screaming from outside the base as the world around her lit up before her consciousness snapped to darkness, permanently.

* * *

Rey felt it.

She  _ felt _ when Starkiller’s beam hit the Resistance. She buried her head in Finn’s chest. All those brave people, fighting against the evil regime of the First Order, gone. She tightened her grip on Finn. It wasn’t right. They didn’t deserve this. There was no telling what the First Order would do now, but now there was no one willing to fight and no one who was even remotely strong enough to stand against the First Order.

She and Finn were in danger. Finn had deserted the First Order. There was no doubt they would either imprison him or take him back and force him to be a Stormtrooper. Either way, he was sure to be tortured.

And if the First Order was adamant about finding Luke Skywalker, surely they would try to torture the information out of her. Not that it’d be of much use to them, as she’d only seen the map, just a small fraction of the galaxy. She couldn’t even recall the exact coordinates of any of the bodies on the map. She shuddered at the thought of being subjected to more of Kylo Ren’s mind probing.

Kylo Ren.

He wanted this, didn’t he? First he killed his father, and now his mother was out of the picture. That was exactly what he wanted. It had to be. No more tethers to the light.

She grit her teeth and moved to stand up but was stopped by Finn.

“Rey, where are you going?”

She exhaled sharply. “I’m going after Ren. He needs to pay for this.”

He pulled her back down into his side. “Rey, no. We need to get out of here.”

She growled. “Why are you always trying to run away?”

“Because if the First Order catches us, we’re done for!” he snapped. He took a deep breath to calm himself, but that did nothing to disguise the fear in his eyes. “Rey, the First Order, I can’t go back. I only came here for you, and now that you’re with me, we need to get away. There’s no telling what they’ll do to either of us. We need to  _ go _ .”

Rey’s face softened. Of course he was scared. Of course he’d want to run. He knew exactly what the First Order was capable of doing to its own soldiers, let alone prisoners. Slowly, she nodded, and allowed Finn to pull her up into a standing position and lead her in the opposite direction of Kylo Ren.

* * *

Ren crumpled to the ground, feeling helpless.

_ Father. Mother. _

It was the first time in six years he’d allowed himself to even think of them like that. One gone by his success, the other by his failure.

He couldn’t breathe. The pain was suffocating. So much life lost in the span of a day, yet the weight of the loss of billions of lives could never compared to the weight of the two he’d lost. How could all of this happen in one day?

He couldn’t stand. He felt like he’d lost the will to live. This wasn’t supposed to happen-

Except it was.

What did he expect to happen when he’d found his uncle? What did he think Snoke expected him to do? Could he really go through with killing his uncle?

Killing Han was torture. Losing his mother nearly killed him.

If he lost his uncle at this point, he wasn’t sure what he would do.

Ren heard shouting and blaster fire in the distance. The scavenger and the traitor must have gotten themselves into trouble.

The scavenger.

Rey.

Snoke wants her. For want, Ren could only guess at, but he needed to find her. Maybe…

Maybe she could help him.

He pushed himself to his feet, an act requiring more effort than he knew he was capable of, and he ran in the direction of the noises. He came upon a small group of Stormtroopers firing at Rey and FN-2187. He thrust a hand out, ceasing the fire and all movements from the Stormtroopers. He looked over at Rey and the traitor. There wasn’t much he could do. If he let Rey go Snoke would be pissed. But if he let her stay there was no telling what Snoke would do to her.

He was about to tell them to leave when he was interrupted. 

“Thank you, Ren, for keeping the prisoners alive. I’ll be sure to have  _ all _ the Stormtroopers present reconditioned for their  _ disobedience _ .”

Ren looked over at General Hux, the same cruel sneer that had always marred the man’s face directed solely at him. He looked back over at the two newly dubbed ‘prisoners’. Both wore expressions of fear, but whereas the traitor was staring at Hux in fear, Rey was looking at Finn, as if she was more afraid for him than for herself.

Ren felt his gut twist at that. He’d have to deal with that later.

“What does the Supreme Leader want with them?” Ren demanded of Hux.

Hux slightly turned up his nose at Ren’s tone. “He wants FN-2187 recommissioned so he can become the exemplary officer I projected him to be.” He turned to look at the traitor. “You should be grateful. He could have had you executed, but I commended you on your skills during training and argued that with proper... _ persuasion _ , you could be a valuable officer for the First Order.”

“Kriff off,” the traitor spat out. Ren had to admire his audacity.

Hux merely chuckled at 2187’s outburst. “Very well then. Perhaps you require more  _ persuasion _ than anticipated. No matter. The First Order is well enough equipped to handle the likes of you.

“And  _ you _ ,” he drawled, almost leering at the scavenger, “the Supreme Leader has taken, a sort of,  _ interest _ in you. Apparently you carry the map to Luke Skywalker. Funny how Ren thought you to be more important than the droid that contained the data for the map and was so confident he could retrieve the map from you. But now the Supreme Leader is certain  _ he _ can get the map from you. I’m almost interested to see what becomes of you, Scavenger Girl.”

Rey shrank back behind the traitor at Hux’s threat.

“And  _ you _ ,” Hux said, looking toward Ren, “the Supreme Leader isn’t overly impressed with your failure. It’ll be interesting to see what he has planned for you.”

Ren narrowed his eyes at the threat but said nothing more as he let go of his hold on the Stormtroopers and allowed them to detain Rey and FN-2187. He stood there, watching the unit drag their prisoners to the internal structure.

He couldn’t move. The weight of the day’s events came crashing down on him, paralyzing him. It took everything he had not to fall to the ground again.

**Author's Note:**

> We're off to a great start! ^u^
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Kudos are appreciated, comments even moreso!


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